Control excellence for nuclear industry

Invensys Operations Management is extending the availability and support of its long-proven Foxboro® SPEC200N analog control system. To prolong the product’s lifecycle, Invensys has signed a multi-year agreement with Scientech, a business unit of Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Company. Under the agreement, Scientech will manufacture the SPEC200N product line from its Idaho Falls, Idaho (US), facility, as well as provide sustaining engineering services to Invensys. Exclusive customer sales and support for the SPEC200N product will continue to be provided by Invensys Operations Management.

The Foxboro SPEC200N analog electronic control system, initially installed in 1976 and deployed in more than 70 nuclear power plants, continues to be recognised for its outstanding reliability in both safety and non-safety-related applications.

“Even as Invensys provides digital instrumentation and control solutions for new nuclear power plants with our award-winning Triconex® 1E Tricon safety and Foxboro I/A Series® distributed control systems, for many existing plants the most cost-effective approach to re-licensing their operations is to extend the life of the analog control systems already in place until a modernisation strategy can be implemented,” said Mike Chmilewski, vice president, control technology innovations and nuclear portfolio, Invensys Operations Management. “As part of our long-standing commitment to the nuclear power industry, we have enlisted the expertise of Scientech to support the SPEC200N Life Extension Program. This strategic partnership will extend our ability to supply the SPEC200N product line, helping to sustain control excellence for our clients in the nuclear industry.”

Extending support for the SPEC200N analog control system provides continuity of operations, allowing customers to bridge the lengthy design and re-licensing process that is required for safety-related digital instrumentation and control upgrades. Invensys is uniquely positioned to assist nuclear power plant operators in the upgrade process because the functionality of SPEC200N systems can be programmatically migrated to the company’s Triconex Tricon Class 1E digital safety platform.

“The Foxboro SPEC200N control system has been used for more than 30 years to control and protect more than 70 plants within the nuclear industry,” said David Linton, president, Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Company, and co-chief operating officer, Curtiss-Wright Corporation. “We look forward to being a strategic partner with Invensys in their continued support of the Foxboro SPEC200N product line, not only because of their history of enabling control excellence, but because the manufacture of the SPEC200N analog control system fits seamlessly with our reengineered replacements for other analog equipment lines produced at our Idaho Falls facility.”